Introduction to LaTeX

LaTeX is a markup language. It's a system where you use specific codes or markup within your plain text document to tell the LaTeX processor how that text should be formatted and structured in the final output.Think of it like telling a skilled typesetter exactly what you want: This text should be a section heading This should be an italicized word or This is a mathematical equation that needs to be displayed clearly. LaTeX then takes these instructions and renders them into a beautifully formatted document.This is in contrast to WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors like Microsoft Word where you directly manipulate the visual appearance of the text as you type. In LaTeX you focus on the content and the logical structure of your document and LaTeX handles the visual presentation based on the commands you use and the document class you've chosen.This separation of content and style is one of the key strengths of LaTeX leading to consistent formatting and making it particularly well-suited for complex documents.